In applied chemistry, there are used electrolytic cells of different designs for the processing of water and aqueous solutions and production of different chemical products; in particular, flow-through cells comprising flat electrodes [e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,427,658, C25B 9/00; C25B 15/08, 1995] or electrolytic cells comprising coaxially arranged tubular electrodes and a diaphragm arranged between the electrodes [e.g., JP 02274889 A, C25B 9/00, 1989].
The closest prior art technical solution and attainable result involve an electrochemical modular cell comprising coaxially arranged tubular outer and inner electrodes made in the form of tube lengths and a permeable ceramic diaphragm arranged coaxially therewith [WO 98/58880, C02F 1/461, 1998].
That technical solution has been chosen as a prototype.
The known solution permits making modular electrolytic cells to attain the required efficiency by way of coupling a number of electrochemical modular cells so that to reduce the costs of designing and manufacturing the electrolytic cells of a constant output, to unify the parts and units, and to reduce the time of mounting and maintaining the cells.
The known electrochemical modular cell ensures the effective processing of water or aqueous solutions at a low rate of energy consumption. The device is simple enough in operating and easy in mounting into units such as the diaphragm flow-through electrochemical reactors of a prescribed productive capacity (output).
However, the known device evince a number of drawbacks.
The known device is intended for the processing of metal chloride solutions and can not be effective in the processing of other types of solutions. Moreover, cylindrical electrolytic cells comprising a diaphragm evince a relatively low output characteristics and are significantly inferior in this regard to electrolytic cells comprising bulk or fluidized-bed electrodes [e.g., Fioshin M. Ya., Smirnova M. G. Elektrokhimicheskie sistemy v sinteze khimicheskikh produktov (Electrochemical systems in the synthesis of chemical products), M.: Khimiya, 1985, p. 216-223, Table VII. 6, Fig. VII.34].